The purpose of this study is to investigate household-environment dynamics in the Coupled Human and Natural System (CHANS) of Wolong Nature Reserve (WNR), the "flagship" reserve designated for conserving the world-famous endangered Giant Pandas of China. The overall research questions of this study include: (1) how demographic and socioeconomic processes at the household level, e.g. those related to family structures and livelihood systems, affect local residents' resource exploitation patterns and land use practices; (2) how loc... (more info)

The purpose of this study is to investigate household-environment dynamics in the Coupled Human and Natural System (CHANS) of Wolong Nature Reserve (WNR), the "flagship" reserve designated for conserving the world-famous endangered Giant Pandas of China. The overall research questions of this study include: (1) how demographic and socioeconomic processes at the household level, e.g. those related to family structures and livelihood systems, affect local residents' resource exploitation patterns and land use practices; (2) how local residents respond to shifts in government policy, especially the implementation of two nationwide conservation programs, the Natural Forest Conservation Program (NFCP) and the Grain-to-Green Program (GTGP), in WNR; and (3) how household and policy dynamics interact to affect the natural environment of WNR. Example hypotheses tested in this study concerned: (1) the effects of conservation policies on local households' energy consumption patterns and fuelwood collection behaviors; (2) the connection between a household's demographic and socioeconomic background and its responses to conservation policies; (3) the relationships between social networks and labor migration; (4) the factors that affect a household's participation in nature-based tourism and the distribution of tourism benefits among different households; and (5) the potential implication of the processes described above on wildlife habitat change and conservation. The data collection in this study focuses on household demographics, household income and expenditure, fuelwood and electricity use, as well as the development of non-agricultural activities such as migration and tourism. Face-to-face interviews were conducted to collect yearly data of the previous year in 1999, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2010 using highly structured survey questionnaires. A sample of 220 households originally drawn in 1999 was revisited in each year's survey. The definition of households was based on the 2000 population census and family registration records from the local WNR administration.

Access Notes

Data in this collection are available only to users at ICPSR member institutions.
Please log in so we can determine if you are with a member institution and have
access to these data files.

Universe:
Located in Wenchuan County, Sichuan Province, the People's Republic of China, WNR was established in 1963 over an area of approximately 2000 km2 in the Qionglai Mountains. A well-known global biodiversity hotspot, WNR is home to an agricultural population of over 5000 local residents in more than 1100 households.

Data Types:
survey data

Methodology

Sample:

The household surveys were based on a sample drawn in 1999, in which 220 of the 1056 households in Wolong were selected using a stratified random sampling procedure. A comprehensive list of households was obtained based on household lists provided by the local family registration (Hukou) office and household data from the agricultural census in 1996. Since these households were distributed in six administrative villages, we used these villages as strata and selected a random sample from each of them. The size of each sample is proportional to the total number of households in the respective village.

Extent of Processing: ICPSR data undergo a confidentiality review and are altered when necessary to limit the risk of
disclosure. ICPSR also routinely creates ready-to-go data files along with setups in the major
statistical software formats as well as standard codebooks to accompany the data. In addition to
these procedures, ICPSR performed the following processing steps for this data collection: